Wrapping machine



Feb. 23, 1960 v G, H, BECKMAN ETAL 2,925,696

WRAPPING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 6, 1957 NR v NW Nw ffy .Illy

Feb, z3, 1960 G. H. BECKMAN ETAL WRAPPING MACHINE A 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 6, 195'? IIIQII Feb- 23, 1960 G. H. BECKMAN ETAL 2,925,596

WRAPPING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 6, 1957 lTM WPING MACHINE George H. Beckman, Lowell, and Gerard B. White, South Bend, Ind., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Globe Roofing Products Co., Inc., Whiting, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application March 6, 1957, Serial No. 644,247

3 Claims. (Cl. Sli- 58) rIhis invention is concerned with a wrapping machine and more particularly with a machine for wrapping articles with paper.

One feature of the invention is the provision of first ,conveyor means for moving an article in one direction through the machine, folding means associated with the rst conveyor, second conveyor means for receiving par- -tially wrapped articles from the rst conveyor means and past the folding station by a conveyor and the moveable element is actuated as an article passes the station.

Further features and advantages may be readily apparent from the following specification and from the drawings, in which:

Figure l is a top plan View of a machine embodying the invention with a portion omitted for clarity;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of themachine;

Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of another portion of the machine;

Figure 4 is a perspective View of a .portion of the machine;

Figure 5 is a view taken generally along line 5 5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of a partially Wrapped article at one stage in the wrapping operation;

Figure 7 is a view taken generally along line 7--7 of Figure 2;

Figure S is a sectional view taken generally along lin 8 8 of Figure 2;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary view of the control cams;

Figure 10 is a fragmentary view of the end folding apparatus; and

Figure l1 is a schematic diagram of the electrical control circuit for the machine.

The machine disclosed herein has certain features which are particularly adapted for wrapping articles which cannot readily be turned during the wrapping operation, elongated articles, for example, having a length of the order of at least twice their width. Certain other features of the machine contribute to its particular effectiveness in wrapping articles which are delivered intermittently to the machine.

The term article is sometimes used in the Yspecilication and claims to refer to the object being wrapped. As used herein article is intended to refer to both a unitary object, and a plurality of objects, as several stack.

Turning now'to the drawings, andparticularly t'o Fig- Vures l, 2 and 3, a first conveyor, indicated'gene'rallyias -Il5,is provided for moving articles to be wrapped through .the machine in affirst direction, and'comprises at least two portions lo and l". The first portion 16 is preferably a beit conveyor for moving the larticle 18, here shown as a stack of siding sheets 18a, into the machine where it is picked up by roller conveyor 17 and carried through the rst portion ofthe wrapping operation. A

second conveyor means 19 receives the partially wrapped article from conveyor means 15 and moves the article in a second direction, preferably at right angles to the first conveyor means, Vfor the'performance of further Wrapping operations. An endless belt 2t) receives the wrapped articles and carries them on'for further processing, `asrto a storage warehouse or to a loading dock.

The wrapping material, such as a'wcb of paper 22 is supplied from a roll 23 through a rst drive mechanism 24, second drive mechanism 25, the. purpose and operation of which will be described later, to a pickup station 26, preferably betweenthe first and second portions 16 and l? of the first conveyor means l5. A vsuitable section 22a of the wrapping material is severed vfrom the lweb 22 by a cutter 27.

The article 18 to be wrapped may be deliveredfrom other handling apparatus, as a counting and stacking machine (not shown) and is moved to the machine as kover roller conveyors 23, Figure .1, or Z9, Figure 2.

The article is picked up by driven belt conveyor 16 and moved through the wrapping material pickupstation 26 folded upwardly by curved plates 32 mounted alongside the edges of roller conveyor 17.

A reservoir 33 contains a supply ofadhesive material 34, such as a liquid asphalt, which is picked up lby gears 35 and 36 and applied to the undersurface o-fupper edge liaps 22C. The upper flaps 22C are then foldeddownwardly by curved plates 37 and the adhesive thereon secures them in place.

The partially wrapped article 1S is moved on by fthe roller conveyor 17 to a vertically movable conveyorsection 17a on which the article is stopped by engagement with end plate 3S. As will appear, vertically-movable section 17a is lowered, as shown in broken lines in Figure 3, at an appropriate time for the article to be picked up by article engaging members or lugs 4t) carried 'on the endless chain 19a of conveyor 19. Conveyor 19 moves the partially wrapped karticle in a direction generally at right angles to the direction of movement of conveyor i7 past an end folding apparatus including a plate assembly 41 anda movable folding plate 42. Assembly 4i includes an element' 41a for folding in the leading portion of the end ap 22d of the wrappingmaterial and a pair of elements 41h which fold the lower and lupper portions `of end flap 22e upwardly and 'downwardly, respectively. Movable folding plate 42 is actuated at the appropriate time to fold 'the trailing' edge of end flap 22d into place, as shown in Figure 4. The end naps may be sealed in place as by a piece of tape or thelike applied by an operator (not shown) stationed at 4.3, in order to complete the wrapping operation before the article is transferred to endless belt 20.

Aln many cases, and particularly with a bundle of indi- Patented Feb. 23, y1.980

-viclual elements, as the sheets of siding material 18a, 1t 1s desirable to provide an inner wrapping, which may take the form of a strip of corrugated cardboard. Referring again to Figures 1 and 3, a table 45 is providedA adjacent .conveyor 16 and on which a single elongated strip of lnner wrapping material 46 may be positioned so Ithat it is engaged at about its midpoint by the article 18 as it enters the machine. As best seen in Figure l, the strip 46 moves with articles 18 and is formed along the sides thereof by plates 47 on either side of the con- Veyor. Shelf 48 supports a supply of the inner wrapping elements 46 which may be placed in position on table 45, as shown in broken lines, by an operator standing at 49.

The wrapping material, web 22, which is fed from roll 23, is moved into the machine through independently operating iirst and second drive means 24 and 25, respectively, which are mounted at the top of spaced, upwardly extending supports 50 and 51, above conveyor 17. When the machine is in readiness; for article 18 to be wrapped, Ia severed section 22a of wrapping material 1s positioned at pickup station 26 and the web 22 hangs between the first and second drive mechanisms 24 and 25 forming a loop 52 which is partially supported and guided by channels 53 carried by the upright members 50 and 51. When the severed section 22a is picked up by an incoming article 18, period of time to draw up at least a portion of the web 22 forming the loop 52 and move it into guide members 54 on upright 51. After an appropriate length of web 22 has been passed to guide members 54 by second drive mechanism 25, a cutter is actuated to sever web section 22a from the remainder of the web whereupon the severed section slides down under its own weight to pickup station 26 where it is stopped at an appropriate point by an adjustable stop 55. Stop 55 is, of course, set to hold the severed web section at the proper position for the midpoint thereof to be engaged by incoming article 18. In the meantime, second drive mechanism 24 is actuated to replenish loop 52 from roll 23.

The roller conveyor 17 is driven from a single motor (not shown) which also provides the driving power for much of the rest of the apparatus, including adhesive pickup wheels 35 and 36 and the drive mechanisms, as by means of suitable chain drives. mechanism 25 is connected with the continuously operating drive source by an air clutch 60 which in turn drives several cams for controlling other phases of the web handling apparatus.

Reference will now be made to the control circuit, Figure l1, which may be energized by connecting the leads 61 to a suitable source of electric power. The

.solenoid controlled air valve 62a is energized when impulse switch 62, preferably secured in bed of conveyor 17 is closed by the passage of an article 18 thereacross. Upon energization of the solenoid controlled air valve, air is supplied to air clutch 60 which staats to rotate and drives a shaft on which two cams 64a and 65a are mounted, and a sprocket which through endless chain 63 drives second web drive mechanism 25. Cam 64a mounted on the shaft has a depression on its circumference, and the high part of the circumference closes switch 64. This keeps the solenoid controlled air valve energized and in turn supplies air to the air clutch until the switch hits the depression in the cam. When this occurs the solenoid is deenergized and the air valve closes, cutting off air to the air clutch, disengalging the clutch and stopping the rotation of the shaft on which the air clutch is mounted.

The second cam 65a, mounted on the shaft, has only a high point on its circumference. During its rotation it engages switch 65 by contacting the high point of the rotating cam. 'lhis energizes a solenoid 65h which controls an air valve to supply air to an air cylinder which actuates the cutter mechanism 27 to sever the section The second drive 22a from web 22. Another switch 65e actuatedby the cutting mhanism 27 returns the cutting knife to its position for the next cutting operation. The switch 68 is closed which energizes a solenoid controlled air valve 68h supplying air to air cylinder 67 which raises the top feed roll of first drive means 24 to feed paper to the loop 52. This stops feeding of the wrapping paper into the loop by touching of lever 68a which in turn opens the switch 68. When loo-p 52 lifts from arm 68a, the solenoid of the air valve is deenergized, causing air cylinder 67 to push the top feeding roll downwards. This permits to feed additional wrapping paper into the loop until the loop 52 touches lever 68a, ywhereupon the cycle is repeated.

lt will thus be seen that as an article moves through the wrapping machine, it picks up the severed section of the wrapping material and then initiates the operation of van automatic control system which takes up a portion of the loop 52 to provide a new section of wrapping material and to replenish the loop 52.

When the partially wrapped article 13 stopsl against stop plate at the end of conveyor 17, it closes a momentary contact switch 70 which is connected in a series with a second momentary switch 72. Switch 72 is positioned alongside conveyor 19, and is operated by one of the article engaging elements 40 carried by conveyor members 19a. Switch 72 completes the operating circuit for solenoid-operated air valve 71a which permits the operation of air cylinder 71 to lower conveyor section 17a so that partially wrapped article 18 may be picked up by another set of article engaging elements 40. The switch 72 is so positioned that the conveyor section 17a is lowered at a time when another set of article engaging elements 40 are just approaching conveyor 17a. ln this way, the lowering of the partially wrapped article directly on top of members 40 which might tear the outer wrapping, is avoided. After the article leaves conveyor section 17a, a momentary switch 73 is pressed by the article carried on the conveyor permitting the air cylinder 71 toraise conveyor section 17a. As article 18 passes end fold mechanism 42, it strikes a switch 74 which energizes a' solenoid controlled air valve 74a, thereby operating air cylinder 42a which causes arm 42 to swing to the position shown in Figure 4 performing the folding operation on the trailing portion of the end flap 22d.

Figure 10 shows clearly the operation of the end folding apparatus. As the article 18 is moved by transverse conveyor 19 past end folding station 66, fixed element 41a tucks in the leading portion of end ap 22d. At the appropriate time switch 74 is closed actuating movable folding element air cylinder 42a. This causes rotation of foldingelement 42 about the axis on which its ysupporting arm is mounted to the position shown in Figure l0 in which it abuts element 41a, tucking in the trailing edge of ap 22d. The axis of rotation of fold. ing element 42 is transverse to the direction of movement of article 18.

While we have shown and described certain embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims.

We claim: y

l. ln an article wrapping machine of the character described, apparatus comprising: wrapping material feed means; a rst conveyor means for moving an article in one direction through said machine and past said material feed means; first folding means associated with said first conveyor means; a second conveyor means for receiving lpartially wrapped articles from said iirst conveyor means and for moving said articles in another direction through .said machine, said second conveyor means being at a different ,level from the rst conveyor means; a vertically movable conveyor section of spaced rollers for transferring articles from the rst conveyor to the second conveyor, said second conveyor means including spaced conveyor elements on either side of the movable conveyor section; and second folding means associated with said second conveyor means.

2. In an article wrapping machine of the character described, apparatus comprising: wrapping material feed means; a rst conveyor means for moving an article in one direction through said machine and past said material feed means; rst folding means associated with said first conveyor means; a second conveyor means for receiving partially wrapped articles from said first conveyor means and for moving said articles in another direction through said machine, said second conveyor means being at a diierent level from the rst conveyor means; a vertically movable conveyor section for transferring articles from the first conveyor to the second conveyor; means for sensing the presence of an article on said vertically movable section; control means for said vertically movable conveyor section actuated by said sensing means in the presence of a partially wrapped article on said vertically movable section for effecting movement of said section to transfer of the article from rst conveyor means to the second; and second folding means associated with said second conveyor means.

3. In an article wrapping machine of the character described, apparatus comprising: wrapping material feed means; a rst conveyor for moving an article in one' direction through said machine; rst folding means associated with said first conveyor; a stop at the end of said first conveyor for arresting movement of an article; a vertically movable section in said first conveyor adjacent said stop; a second conveyor below the first and moving at right angles thereto; article engaging elements on said second conveyor; a switch associated with said stop means and triggered by the presence of an article on said vertically movable conveyor section; a second switch triggered by said article engaging elements on the second conveyor; means responsive to actuation of both of said switches for effecting movement of said vertically movable conveyor section to position said article for engagement by the elements on said second conveyor; and second folding means associated with said second conveyor means for performing a further wrapping operation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,634,711 Ferguson July 5, 1927 1,902,734 Streng Mar. 21, 1933 2,077,431 Neumair Apr. 20, 1937 2,192,683 Bronander Mar. 5, 1940 2,215,545 Demler Sept. 24, 1940 2,400,682 Bronander Mar. 2l, 1946 

